Pulp and paper industry came together in Helsinki
The Pulp & Beyond conference and exhibition week was held April 14-17 in Helsinki, Finland. The event brought together industry professionals and students from different corners of the pulp, paper and biomaterials industry.
Valmet acted as a main sponsor the of conference that included several different tracks with a strong focus on future solutions. Valmet’s experts had four presentations in the program and additionally Valmet’s solutions were featured in several of our customers’ presentations including Stora Enso, UPM, Klabin and Circulose.
The conference covered topical including artificial intelligence. Mika Karala, Research Director from Valmet’s Automation business, opened and chaired the session Artificial intelligence as a game changer and risk factor. The session included presentations by different actors in the field, also from the real life implementations. “AI in industry will meet real world use cases and the benefits will bring more safety and business value to the industry. The presented cases also covered managing losses and variations. Overall development has been rapid and will accelerate further as use of AI & agents become more common,” Karaila summarized.
The second Nordic Textile Fibre day was organized this time as part of Pulp&Beyond Conference. The program was planned by Valmet, VTT and Kemira and consisted of eight presentations under topics Accelerating growth in textile fibers and Driving responsible life-cycle management in textiles. Heli Kangas, Development Manager working with Valmet’s textile solutions, chaired one of the sessions: “The presentations provided perspectives on market opportunities, scaling of textile innovations, R&D, digital product passport and sustainable consumption, and updated the situation of several industrial textile projects.” The interest towards more sustainable textile solutions was proven with a large number of participants and the abundance of presentations of already ongoing projects.
In the session covering Future energy solutions enhancing efficiency and competitiveness Sampo Immonen, Senior R&D Manager for Valmet’s Packaging and Paper Business Area presented Valmet’s solutions for improving energy efficiency with state of art water dewatering technology. “SleeveRoll introduces a unique new approach to forming‑area dewatering, combining excellent capacity with superior material and energy efficiency while delivering top‑class quality. The technology is highly flexible and can be applied to almost any forming section concept with relatively minor modifications, making it suitable for both new machines and rebuild projects.“
In the same session Lari-Matti Kuvaja, Director, Emission Control, Energy and Circularity, at Valmet presented Valmet’s solutions for reducing emissions and improving carbon capture efficiency with new pre-treatment technology. “Carbon capture efficiency starts already upstream of the capture unit. Advanced flue gas pre-treatment enables ultra‑low emissions and optimal gas conditions, improving reliability and economics of CCS and CCU solutions. Tailored integration of wet flue gas cleaning, cooling, and polishing technologies is a key enabler for scalable carbon capture, especially for biogenic CO₂ sources.”
At the exhibition Valmet's presented the new Lead the way -strategy, selected references as well as textile recycling and new innovative wood-based textiles. The exhibition gave an opportunity to network with industry professionals and future employees, as one exhibition day was especially dedicated to students.